Unstoppable Marquez makes it five-in-a-row with another pefect weekend

Repsol Honda sensation, Marc Marquez, has enjoyed a perfect weekend in Le Mans taking pole position (with a new record), setting a new fastest race lap (1’33.548 on lap 8) and crowning it with the victory (in a record time) in front of 88,222 spectators. He also became the youngest ever rider (21 years and 90 days) to win five successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Mike Hailwood (22 years and 160 days old). Teammate Dani Pedrosa struggled to find his rhythm in the 28 lap race, slowly progressing through the field from ninth on the grid to fifth by the chequered flag.

It was a chaotic start to the race with Marc slipping back from pole to ninth – after being pushed wide by Lorenzo – and Dani dropping a position to tenth by the end of lap one. As things began to settle down, and the race found it’s tempo, Marc started to pluck off the riders in front of him and by lap seven he was already up to fourth, with Dani also passing Smith and Dovizioso into seventh by lap nine. Marc then set the fastest lap of the race en route to passing Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro, and by lap thirteen he was on the tail of race leader Valentino Rossi. A slight error from the Italian gifted Marc first position and from this point he didn’t look back.

Dani found some rhythm on lap sixteen, passing Bradl and then on lap eighteen traded places twice with Lorenzo. On lap twenty he made the pass stick and took fifth place but despite a late challenge he was unable to close in on Pol Espargaro and finished 0.3s behind the fellow Spaniard, less then one second off the podium.

With his fifth win of 2014, Marc is the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1972, to win the opening five races of the year in the premier class, the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2008 to win five successive MotoGP races and the first to win them all from pole since Mick Doohan in 1997, also on a Honda. He now extends his lead over Dani in the riders’ Championship to 42 points, Honda lead the constructors’ Championship by 38 points and the Repsol Honda Team lead the teams’ Championship by 82 points after five rounds.

Marc Marquez

“I am really happy with this win, which was different to the other victories. I made a mistake at the start; maybe I was too relaxed off the line, then when Jorge passed me I had to take a wide line otherwise we would have touched and as a result, many riders overtook me. However, from that moment on I began a really good comeback it was a lot of fun, ending in my fifth consecutive victory. Although it might look easy to people, we are working extremely hard and this is the reward for the whole team!”

Dani Pedrosa

“It was a very difficult race to manage, because I didn't get a bad start but had Iannone and Smith coming through very strong on the opening corner; they split the group and even pushed a rider off-track. However, this wasn't the main problem, I had an issue with the front tyre preventing me from making my way up the order. Every time that I tried to be more aggressive I had a lack of grip and it took many laps for me to move forward. It's a shame, because I didn't find a setup that allowed me to ride comfortably and we didn't have a good race. I think I can go a lot faster here than what we saw today.”

MotoGP 2014Sunday, May 18th 2014

Race
Round 5
Grand Prix De FranceFrance

Results Session

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

25

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

44'03.925

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

20

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

+1.486

3

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

16

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

Honda

+3.144

4

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

13

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

+3.717

5

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

11

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

+4.077

6

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

10

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

+7.088

7

Bradl Stefan

6

GER

9

LCR Honda MotoGP

Honda

+11.527

8

Dovizioso Andrea

04

ITA

8

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

+22.103

9

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

7

NGM Forward Racing

Forward Yamaha

+22.626

10

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

6

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

+23.108

11

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

5

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

+25.780

12

Redding Scott

45

GBR

4

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

Honda

+39.523

13

Hernandez Yonny

68

COL

3

Energy T.I. Pramac Racing

Ducati

+42.544

14

Aoyama Hiroshi

7

JPN

2

Aspar Team

Honda

+42.736

15

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

1

AB Motoracing

Honda

+56.644

16

Laverty Michael

70

GBR

0

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

+1'14.123

17

Edwards Colin

5

USA

0

Athina Forward Racing

Forward Yamaha

+1'19.723

18

Parkes Broc

23

AUS

0

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

+1'30.934

19

Di Meglio Mike

63

FRA

0

Avintia Racing

Avintia

+1'34.521

20

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

0

Pramac Racing

Ducati

DNF

21

Barbera Hector

8

SPA

0

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

DNF

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Gallery

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Location Information

Built in 1965 around the existing 24-Hour track, the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit lies 5km south of the city of Le Mans and 200km south-west of Paris. The venue has hosted Grand Prix since the late sixties but a serious accident to Spanish rider Alberto Puig in… read more.

Location Information

Built in 1965 around the existing 24-Hour track, the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit lies 5km south of the city of Le Mans and 200km south-west of Paris. The venue has hosted Grand Prix since the late sixties but a serious accident to Spanish rider Alberto Puig in… read more.